r/retail

In the last 11 months my family has experienced loss after loss after loss, and I've worked a retail job the entire time. First my baby niece died, then my father figure, then a sister in law, then two dear friends/exes, and my best friend/adopted sister, all dying within less than 3 months of each other.

My best friend died at 26 3 weeks ago and I've just had ENOUGH. The number of people I get a day who want to treat me weird because they don't have anything better going on is an actual crime against humanity. You're an asshole because you're bored, and inexperienced, btw.

The fact that I have to hold your hand with a smile on my face while you berate me for things you don't understand, while I bury, and cremate over half the people I love in less than 11 months is enough that I am very surprised I haven't snapped. I have in the terms of telling someone "this is what I have going on, you should be more thoughtful.", but I mean like, really snap. Like I understand why people go postal kind of snap.

I'm to the point where I'm in active derealization 100% of the time just to get through it, and am still putting 110% into showing up for complete strangers that can't just be bothered to be kind. If you're that person, from the very bottom of my heart, fuck you. Rant over.

Someone on our ops team suggested rolling tablet stands for inventory instead of handheld scanners.

The idea is staff can move aisle to aisle and update stock directly instead of going back to fixed stations.

Pilot phase actually looked promising.

But I keep thinking about what happens when this scales across dozens of stores… floors aren’t perfect, carts are everywhere, and anything mobile usually ages differently than expected.

Has anyone actually made this work long term?

I work in retail as a utility clerk. It’s a nice and stable job that I’ve had for about 3 and a half years. I can basically just walk around the store and do whatever tasks I want and I’ve never had any issues with my superiors or most coworkers. Recently one coworker however who I’ve never gotten along with got promoted to customer service management and I feel like he’s going to deliberately try to ride my ass and make my work life more difficult. He’s one of those types who would let the new power inflate his ego. I like this job and don’t want to change departments or quit so I was hoping for some advice on how to just coexist moving forward and what to do if they try to belittle me.

Hi everyone!

I (29F) am a new Assistant Store Manager for a growing and very popular jewelry brand. I have a mixed background in marketing, events, and luxury/premium retail.

In the past, I’ve worked associate level at Anthropologie, Sephora, Free People, and Loeffler Randall. All very different, yet effective regarding growth.

I was scouted out for this new role, after working multiple jobs last year after being laid off. I eagerly said yes because I know the founder, her sister, and a lot of the team on the corporate side. I want to own my own luxury resale business down the road, and was like “let’s get back to one thing + the experience with the growing brand could be wonderful.”

My current schedule is Tuesday-Saturday. I’m salaried and love having my benefits back, but after two months, I’m already feeling so spread thin. My boss aka our head store manager works Sunday-Thursday—if I want a Saturday off, I have to use PTO. Apparently this has been a point of contention amongst other leaders.

I’ve already been being so exhausted between balancing a new role/it being managerial, a lot of internal transitions between corporate and retail, learning how the brand works, leading a young team, and being confident in it all. I’ve already had to work a lot of after hours too.

I’m determined to stick this out, but need to take care of myself as well. I’m realizing that this will take waking up at the crack of dawn and working out at the gym, being super disciplined, and learning how to get over FOMO.

I don’t drink alcohol anymore (pushing two years this summer) and am trying to get back on my medications/get back in therapy.

I’m very community-oriented, so I’m missing my friends and family BAD right now… any tips would help! Thanks!

Lately, I've been finding myself, like, weirdly obsessed with how stores are set up, ya know, like the layout and stuff? It's kinda fascinating, actually. Just tiny tweaks, like maybe wider aisles or shifting shelves around a bit, can totally transform your whole shopping vibe. Who knew, right?

I mean, who would've thought that messing with where the checkout counters are or even how high the shelves stand would make a store feel more, I don't know, comfy? Something so simple can be a game changer.

Oh, oh! Speaking of game changers, I'm super curious if anyone’s got any juicy stories about working in retail or designing stores. I’m talking about those subtle changes that ended up being way bigger than expected. You all must have some tales to tell.

Could be something like

1. That cool way you set up gondola shelving (is that what they call it?) Sounds like a boat term to me (LOL).

2. The checkout counter’s new spot that suddenly made things smoother.

3. How those endcap displays (like the ones that tempt me with chocolate bars) somehow boosted sales.

4. Lowering shelf heights so even shorties like me can reach the good stuff.

5. Or any wild changes that had customers giving thumbs-ups.

Just genuinely curious, does anyone in the industry have stories to share? I'd love to hear, like, real experiences!

Never posted or looked through here much, but wanted to vent real quick lol. This management has some stupid rules that make things way more difficult than they need to be. She seems to think that waxing the rails wastes time even though it can literally shorten the process by up to 10x for me, and on top of that it's actually shop-able and easily handled by staff with a waxed rail. Otherwise they get stuck on the rail, very unpleasant to shop through or handle, clothes get tangled up or even damaged, tags get pulled of from customers having to jerk them around, people just lay the clothes on the fixture instead of putting them back properly, probably because they don’t feel like fighting with it.

So she says “no waxing right now, there’s no time,” and whenever I’m expected to do it and I’m not permitted to use a simple cheap tool that makes things 100X easier for everybody, I just take my time. I’m not going to work extra hard to achieve a lesser quality outcome just because of some stupid rule, not gonna hustle through garment kung-fu and gymnastics when I could take two seconds to rub on some wax paper and then be able to make it perfect in a fraction of the time. To me, it’s like the equivalent of running a kitchen with subpar pans that food is prone to sticking to and then telling your chefs that they can’t use any fat or oil, but you still expect them to get all the food on the plate in a timely manner.  I tried explaining it to her and she just doesn’t understand. This is somebody with like 3 decades of retail management experience.

Hello everyone,

Buckle up because this will be long.

My name is HMW. As of today I am the new top mod of r/retail. Moving forward, me along with u/frommyheattomatoez, u/SchuminWeb, and u/513634 will be the moderators of the sub.

As u/yannireddit123 has recently posted, they were looking for mods to take over this sub. I personally would like to say thank you for giving us the chance. I wish you well, in what you shall do next. Thank you.

My background: Restaurant GM for 7 years, 15 total cooking. I will be honest I do not have much retail experience in the traditional sense, i.e. Walmart, target, etc... except for a stint at a gas station as an operator for 6 months. That is a job I do not suggest for anyone.

I have been the forward facing mod of r/Restaurant_managers for about a year now. I also co-mod a mental health sub.

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POST AND USER FLAIRS:

I noticed it's looking a little bare. Let's add some color and sunshine.

We're going to need ideas for user flairs and post flairs. Serious or not, leave your ideas below.

Also y'all are retail workers, where the memes at?

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CHANGES TO THE SUB:

-RULES ARE BEING IMPLEMENTED.

1. I have not seen too many issues going around. Just a couple posts I have removed. A few bots were banned. You seems like a very easy-going bunch, so I don't anticipate any issues.

Basic security measures, like Auto mod, bot bouncer, and hive protect will be implemented within the coming days. There will be a minimum karma requirement, but it is low, I don't think any of you will have any issues posting, if you do contact us through mod mail.

2. App Developers, blanket rule in any sub I mod. Hive protect, will be coming online in the coming days, who will alert us to who they are. This includes users who have u/hive-protect blocked. If you have them blocked, I will assume you have done it for nefarious reasons.

3. Bots: 3/10 of the top posts, were bot posts soliciting information. Significantly better than when I was brought on to the RM sub... That sub is what I like to consider "Targeted," and honestly as the retail sub, I'm surprised this one hasn't been either.

4. In that vein we will be sticking to the goal of this sub. A sub for retail workers to share their stories, ask for advice, share their memes and horror stories. If you need help with something, please don't hesitate to post. But if you are posting for the explicit goal of harvesting data for an app, ai, or to solicit information from retail workers, you will be banned. There will be zero tolerance for any kind of solicitation.

5. DM's - If you need to contact us moderators for any reason, please don't hesitate, just use the mod mail button. No one should be sending us individual mods messages pertaining to actions made on this sub. Any communication must go through my mail.

P2p DM's: as the sub grows, it will start attracting more advertisers, scammers, general shitheads. No advertising, no soliciting in dms.

To be clear, we do not care if you communicate, but if you receive messages from advertisers or anything, please report them with mod mail, have a screenshot and we will action the user.

6. Any kind of harassment will not be tolerated. This includes misogyny and misandry. It does not matter whether you are a man or a woman. There's enough in the world, we can at least do our part to cut it out.

7. No research studies, feedback on apps or programs, or anything of the sorts. This ties back into the solicitation rule.

Please use the report button, us mods also work, sometimes we cannot get to an issue right away. By doing this, we get a notification on our phone.

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CHANGES IN LEADERSHIP:

Without diminishing the hard work that Yanni did, we will be being a bit more proactive. Most of the changes like bot bouncer, is not meant to prevent, or stop any current situation. It is to prevent future situations.

As I said above, as our sub grows, it will start attracting more advertisers, bots, scammers, purveyors, prospectors, you get it AKA shit heads, they do not care about the sub, and they're only seeking to gain information or money from you.

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FUTURE OF THE SUB:

As I said above this is a place for retail workers to share their experiences, chat, share their funny memes, share their stories, you get it I don't have to explain.

This is a sub for retail workers, not advertisers, app Developers, or anyone soliciting information.

Everyone have a great day, I got to get back to washing my dishes.

I know I’m not the only one who has noticed this, but I've worked in retail and fast food for about five years, and I’ve seen a certain level of entitlement that goes beyond stupidity. It's become more and more obvious and increasingly scary, because many customers have even resorted to physical violence over certain issues. It’s gotten worse over time. In the last year, I’ve had at least five men and quite a few women yell at me, talk to me like I’m a dog—literally call me a dog—call me sexist and racist slurs, and make accusations. Some even try to physically assault me by coming behind the counter. This is becoming more and more concerning, as I now feel scared and have developed some PTSD because of it. Am I the only one noticing the rapid increase in customers shifting from being merely annoying to being verbally, emotionally, and physically violent, on top of exhibiting abusive behaviors? Maybe tell me your stories in the comments?

-subtle pain that isn't noticeable during my shift but i can feel it after work
-only on my left side
-been wearing the same shoes as I did when I started this retail job 18 months ago

Hi. I’ve been at my current retail store for 2 years. Something that annoys me SO bad is when customers act like they know more about the store when I HAVE TO BE HERE EVERY SINGLE DAY.

One example is how we will have product in the same area for YEARS. And someone comes in and goes “oh you must have just moved that around” and i go “haha actually it’s been there for years” and they go “no i know it was actually across the store not too long ago!” BRO IM HERE EVERY SINGLE DAY AND HAVE BEEN HERE FOR YEARS. I get maybe you went to a different location but 99% of our very small beauty stores are set up the exact same. like bro.

ANOTHER EXAMPLE is our bathroom doubles as our stock room, unfortunately. So there’s a big sign that says EMPLOYEES ONLY. NO PUBLIC BATHROOM. It has been this way since this store opened in the 2000s. I’ve had customers straight up tell me they know they’ve used the bathroom here. I know for a fact any employee letting them use the restroom would result in EXTREME discipline and punishment. there is just absolutely no way. omg.

LAST EXAMPLE is people trying to tell ME about our current sales. acting like i don’t have to be trained on these things and review our upcoming sales every month. i get they’re trying to save money but the sign LISTS EXACTLY WHAT ITEM IS ON SALE and since they grab something that’s the same brand BUT NOT AN ITEM ON THE LIST (never a super long list btw and it’s displayed right by the brand) They try and tell me IM WRONG? No sir if it was on sale it would be on the list and THE REGISTER WOULD AUTOMATICALLY DISCOUNT IT WHEN I RING IT UP. they legit try to tell me the register is wrong.

i’m tired haha

a human scans all my items and places them in the bags i provided- then they take my payment and i leave. no email,,postal code, 👨‍💻 hon number, rewards card. just money exchanged for merchandise -l

i’m too old for of this shit, rigg

So I have autism and loud sounds often bother me. Which is normally no big deal but I work in a small store where they blast the music so loud I can’t even hear the customers. So today after lunch I was doing my normal work when my boss said on the walkie to make sure to talk to customers. I was just like ok and kept working. Now I had already been there 5 hours and at this point the constant noise was getting to me. Like I was fighting to function and my mangers yells on the walkie to help someone. So I walk over to where he said and no one was there. So I kept working. Then a few minutes later the manager says in the walkie, “why am I talking to people for you? That’s your job that’s what you get paid for.” Now I make 13 an hour in retail so I ignored this. Then he said to me over the walkie. “You can’t even do your job. Then he said to everyone this is a grown man by the way” so I just ignored him. Then a few minutes later my other manager yelled at me for not smiling… Did I do something wrong here?

So this happened around two weeks ago, while I was on self-checkout. An older woman came up to me and handed me a shoebox filled with a pair of shoes, some clothes and snacks, and said "I just need to run out and grab my purse real quick", and I, thinking nothing of it, let her do so. But after a while it became apparent that she wasn't coming back. Lo and behold, she had actually taken a pair of shoes out of the shoebox, put them on, and then filled the box with some random stuff to make sure I didn't suspect anything, running out the door with those stolen shoes.

What are some of your theft stories?

I've done retail for 7 years now and I had applied to what I thought was a regular retail job, associate position.

I interviewed and the interviewer mentioned that it was actually for a shift lead position even though they had another associate position available as well. But they seemed insistent on having me or someone at the very least, fill that role. They said they'd give me training and that the job is easy. Typical "This job is great!" recruiting speak. But I reitered, word for word, "I have never been higher than anything other than an associate so this would be my first time being anything higher" and the interviewer was like, "Given your experience and what you know, you should be fine." She didn't say that word for word, but basically that was the jist of it.

Should I take it? I mean, on one hand I'm a bit nervous as I've never been in that position before but on the other hand, it would be a great boost for my resume to go from "associate" to "shift lead" and maybe something more? And I would be getting $17 an hour which is better than the $14-15 I usually get

First retail job. Nobody likes the tills so I'm on tills by myself for most of my shift, with no break as part of my contract, but my friends said other shops offer breaks from till after a certain amount of time due to disorientation, don't know how true this is (?) Managers patronising & backhanded & freak out if I get something wrong when I'm literally the only one handling a queue of several customers on my third day there, & introduce a new button or concept or setting I was never introduced to in the first place. But the others are nice & funny which is the same in every job tbh 😅. It's my third day & I say I've got 75% of knowledge on the till, but when it gets difficult, I have to ask for help. Is this a realistic experience?

I just came back from Chemist Warehouse after another bad customer experience compliments of Gen Z.

Two staff were filming reels in the aisle, I was behind them and could’ve been in the video so I went around the other way and when I re entered the aisle they had swapped places and were filming in my direction again so I left. One of them said ‘we should stop so we don’t get fired’ so they aren’t completely oblivious.

Last time I went at the same time four of them were talking loudly about sex, verbatim quote ‘I don’t know which guy I’m sleeping with made my pussy sore’ and ‘if you’re not bleeding don’t worry about it babe’ - no regard for customers. It’s gross.

My apprehension is I don’t like having a negative impact on anyone but also think they should get feedback so they’re more mindful next time. Should I send it? I’m not trying to get them fired I want them spoken to so they can I dunno develop a minimum level of work ethic!

hello everyone as the title says pretty much but also because this is my first ever job (I won’t say what store due to privacy reasons no it’s not Walmart lmfao) but yesterday was hands on training in which I got to bag items except I feel like I have a bit of trouble remembering where certsin items go along with how fast it’s happening I do know the basics like eggs and bread are separate and anything heavy goes in the bag first and chemicals being completely separate but please any advice or lists would be nice thank you :)